And as “Ultimate Chaos” victor Javier Vazquez today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) such was the case with this past Friday’s weigh-in fiasco in Biloxi, Miss., which ultimately cost Din Thomas a chance to fight – and took money from Vazquez’s pocket.

“I never went up to the commission,” Vazquez said. “I never bitched and complained. I never said anything. It wasn’t my job to do that. That’s the commission’s job to do that.”

Thomas, who began rehydrating immediately after weighing-in at 146.6 pounds for the featherweight contest, on Monday told MMAjunkie.com Radio that Vazquez was the one insisting the extra weight be shed despite a reported pass from the Mississippi State Athletic Commission. Vazquez said he was asked a simple question, to which he replied as he would in any other situation.

“We weighed in, and Din was about half-pound over,” Vazquez said. “I never said anything. I figured since he was over he was going to have to cut anyways. It’s not my job to say, ‘Go cut.’

“Someone from the show came up to me and goes, ‘Hey, he’s a half-of-a-pound over; do you want him to cut?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want him to cut.’ That’s as far as I went.”

Vazquez, who said he was approached no more than “one minute, two minutes tops after I walked off the stage,” said he had no idea Thomas had already started rehydrating.

“I wasn’t worrying about him rehydrating,” Vazquez said. “I was worried about me rehydrating. I’m not looking over my shoulder to see what he’s doing.

“My job is to make weight, get rehydrated, and that’s it. Everything else should be on the commission. I’m not going to be running up there and start bitching and complaining. That’s not what I did.”

Thomas said he received verbal approval from the commission to begin his rehydration process, but Vazquez said he wasn’t aware any sort of edict was issued.

Later that night, with Thomas unable to shed weight safely and the bout in jeopardy, Vazquez said he was approached about taking the fight despite his opponent’s miscue. Vazquez said he asked for 20 percent of his opponent’s purse, which he insisted is fairly standard practice in the industry.

“It’s standard – and whether it’s written or not, I’ve been in this business for over 10 years – if you don’t make weight, your opponent gets some part of your purse,” Vazquez said.

An 11-year veteran, Vazquez said he believes Thomas turned down the fight based on something other than his frustration at a 20 percent fine.

“I personally think he knew he was going to lose that fight,” Vazquez said. “He felt like crap, and he saw that the weight cut wasn’t an issue for me. He knew he was going to have a very tough fight, so he said, ‘Screw it, I’ll regroup and we’ll try to make the fight later.’ But for him to be blaming it on me I think is a bunch of crap because it wasn’t my fault.

“I’m not the one that showed up over weight. I’m not the one that missed weight. Everything I did was what I was supposed to do. I showed up on time, on weight and ready to fight. That’s not my problem. The one that screwed that up was him. Do I blame the commission? Yeah, I blame the commission because they’re a bunch of idiots. But I also blame him.”

Vazquez defeated last-second replacement Mark Kergosien in just 19 seconds, but the change in opponent also resulted in a significant reduction in “Showtime’s” win bonus. And while Vazquez believes the commission dropped the ball, he believes Thomas was ultimately to blame.

“One thing that I agree with Din about was that commission was a complete disaster,” Vazquez said. “The other part of the blame I do blame on Din because he knows the weight we had to make and where he was supposed to be at. He should have known better.

“He’s been doing this a long time; he knows he has to make weight. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know we were getting a pound. I was asking for weeks and weeks and weeks. Just to be on the safe side, I was at 145 pounds.”

An unfortunate situation all the way around, the bumbled weigh-ins at “Ultimate Chaos” have created an unlikely rivalry – one that Vazquez says may be revisited very quickly.

“I’m definitely interested (in a rematch),” Vazquez said. “We’re kind of working on maybe trying to put that together, shortly, so long as he can make weight. I don’t think he can make the weight and be healthy. But it’s not my problem. He’s only going to hurt himself.

“[Thomas] is an amazing fighter, but he won’t be able to last. That’s up to him. If he wants to take the chance of fighting me again, he knows he’s going to be in for a war. He knows I’m not afraid of him, and he knows he’s probably going to lose.

“Probably sooner, rather than later, but we’re just finishing up some logistics on a couple of things. You might be able to see that fight sooner than you guys think.”
(Pictured: Din Thomas and Javier Vazquez courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon EST (9 a.m. PST) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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